Eldred G. Smith, ex-Mormon church patriarch, dies

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Elder Eldred G. Smith, the oldest Mormon church general authority and oldest known Utahn, has died at the age of 106.

Smith, who was born in Lehi, died Thursday night.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a statement praising him as a "valued friend" and "respected leader."

During his 32 years as church patriarch, he traveled to every continent and gave more than 18,000 blessings. He had been an emeritus church patriarch since 1979.

Provo's Daily Herald reports he had five children, 24 grandchildren, 45 great-grandchildren and 19 great-great grandchildren as of a year ago.

KSL reports he was the most long-lived general authority in the church's history. Smith celebrated his 106th birthday on Jan. 9.

View the original article here

Orthodox patriarch to Rome for pope's installation

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, is heading to the Vatican to attend Pope Francis' installation Mass — the first time an ecumenical patriarch is attending a papal investiture since the churches split nearly 1,000 years ago, a church official said Monday.

 The Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches were united until the Great Schism of 1054, which was precipitated largely by disagreements over the primacy of the pope.

Francis' predecessor, the now-retired Pope Benedict XVI, had made uniting all Christians and healing the split a priority of his pontificate. A joint committee has also been working to mend the rift between the two branches of Christianity.

Rev. Dositheos Anagnostopoulos, the spokesman for the Istanbul-based Patriarchate, said Bartholomew would become the first Orthodox spiritual leader to attend an investiture since the Schism. The decision to attend the Mass at St Peter's Square on Tuesday was "the fruit" of the growing dialogue between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, he said.

Bartholomew has made several previous visits to the Vatican, including attending the funeral of Pope John Paul II in 2005. Bartholomew also hosted Benedict during a 2006 visit to Istanbul, the sprawling city formerly called Constantinople and the ancient spiritual center of the Orthodox churches.

Prof. Ionnis Zizioulas, the Metropolitan of Pergamon and a co-chair of the joint commission promoting dialogue between the two churches, is accompanying Bartholomew to Rome, Anagnostopoulos said. Bartholomew's delegation will also include Tarassios, the Metropolitan of Argentina, and Gennadios, the Metropolitan of Italy.

Francis is familiar with Orthodox traditions from 14 years of heading the Argentine church's commission on Eastern Rite Christians, who are within the Catholic fold but follow Orthodox religious customs, including some married clergy in lower ranks.

The powerful Russian Orthodox Church, the largest of the more than dozen Orthodox churches, welcomed the election of Francis, the first Latin American pope, as a step toward better relations, which have steadily improved over the past decades.

Francis was expected to meet with representatives of other religious denominations on Wednesday.

View the original article here

New Bulgarian patriarch enthroned by tarnished Orthodox Church

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's new Orthodox patriarch was enthroned in a mass in Sofia on Sunday that leaves the soft-spoken theologian the task of restoring the reputation of a church hurt by links to businessmen and communist secret police.

Neofit, Bishop of Rousse, took over the 1,100-year old church, which survived centuries of Turkish domination and decades of communism, just as Bulgaria heads for early elections by May after the government resigned on Wednesday during protests over the cost of living and corruption.

Protesters in Sofia kept a promise to stay away from the capital's main cathedral, St. Alexander Nevski, so as not to interfere with the ceremonial mass of inauguration.

About 80 percent of Bulgarians say they are Orthodox Christians - the mainstream religion also in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Greece, Romania and Serbia, but only few see churchgoing as important to their lives, recent surveys show.

Trust in the Orthodox Church was shaken after a history commission showed in January 2012 that 11 of its 15 bishops collaborated with the former communist era secret police.

Neofit, born Simeon Dimitrov, also had a file with the much feared Darzhavna Sigurnost, but while his 16-page entry contained information about him, it preserved no reports made by him to the police.

The election by a church council of the bespectacled Neofit, 67, known for theological learning, humble demeanour and exquisite singing, was welcomed by believers and analysts who see him as a worthy successor to Patriarch Maxim who died in November aged 98.

"Neofit will be a patriarch who will not shame Bulgarians. He will restore the spiritual dignity of the Church," said political analyst Nikolai Mihailov.

The luxurious lifestyle of some bishops has fed disillusionment with the church, and the restoration of the little known church title of archon -- given to businessmen often after hefty donations - has also stirred disapproval.

Neofit graduated from the Theological Academy in Sofia in 1971 and specialized in Moscow for two years. He took the name Neofit and was sworn in as a monk in the Troyan Monastery by late Patriarch Maxim in 1975.

He taught church singing at Sofia's Theological Academy, led its choir and was its rector before becoming a bishop in 1994.

Neofit's inauguration coincided with the last Sunday address by Pope Benedict, leader of millions of Catholic Christians, before his resignation.

(Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova; Editing by Jason Webb)

View the original article here